


It's Not The Going, It's The Coming Back

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 08:52:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19169902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "Jack doesn’t really seem even remotely fazed by the fact that he died, especially in such a bleak way. Most people think most people would be, so there’s a dissonance there, so I want to see something on that."There are so many prompts just like this that were unfilled. Were people just not reading the previous pages of the kinkmeme, or….? Anyway, in this variation, the Guardians are shocked, but not because Jack’s blase about dying, but that he wasn’t bothered at all about coming back.





	It's Not The Going, It's The Coming Back

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 1/10/2016.

“All you were told was your name?” Tooth asks. “Your speech must have come back only through the powers you were given as a Guardian. If there hadn’t been children in the village, I don’t know if you’d have been able to speak at all. Didn’t it—didn’t it hurt?”  
  
“I don’t know,” Jack says. “I don’t remember. I was walked through only seconds after I landed. That hurt, of course. I can’t pick anything else out from it.”  
  
“Lucky you had the staff with you,” Bunny says, shaking his head. “Only your name! No guidance on what you could do, no indication of what it meant to be Jack Frost, nothing about how the world works. That was a horrible gamble Manny took, that you would channel your powers through your staff until you knew more about them.”  
  
“I know it is not as though preparations could have been made,” North says, frowning, “but we should have been called. This was not well done of Manny, to let us think you were an ordinary spirit for so long. It is not right that you should have been alone, then. Even if Manny had not intended to make you a Guardian, we are the ones who would have known how to help.”  
  
“Help me in what?” Jack looks around at everyone. “I mean, I expected you to be shocked that I died, and I expected you to think that I should be more upset about it, and I was going to argue that I’m not dead in any measure that counts, but…this is different.”  
  
Sandy waves for his attention. You’re right that you’re not dead in a way that means anything, he signs, and it makes sense that dying hasn’t really upset you. After all, if you’re really, really dead, there’s nothing to be upset about. But if you’re reborn…that’s another matter entirely. It’s very hard. Even harder when you’re changing from one form to another.  
  
“But you…okay. I need more explanation. Was that what happened to you? But you—you didn’t seem to slow down or anything, when you came back.”  
  
Sandy smiles and raises his eyebrows. Practice, he signs.  
  
Alarmed, Jack looks at the others for confirmation.  
  
“It’s the truth,” Bunny says. “He’s been around and clashing with Pitch for a lot longer than any of us, and for both of them coming back is kind of old hat. But all of us have faced coming back more than a few times. It gets easier every time, though for me, it’s still pretty difficult. Sandy helped me the first time; I don’t know how I would have managed if I was alone. You start off with nothing.”  
  
“I can help with memories, now,” Tooth says. “But it wasn’t always that way.”  
  
“So you see, Jack, the problem is that we did not know you were coming back from a death,” North says. “And, to tell the truth, it is very surprising that you have not talked about your rebirth in itself.”  
  
“How strange is it?” Jack asks. “Is it bad strange? I mean, I just never thought…”  
  
“It means you’re a really quick learner and used to way too much pain,” Bunny says. “The first is fine, the second, well.” He shrugs and looks away. “I guess we’ll have to work on that,” he finishes gruffly.  
  
Sandy shakes his head, smiles, and reaches out to take Jack’s hand.


End file.
